To the student
of Haskalah he is interesting, because he marks the close of the old and
the beginning of the new era. Like the Maskilim of a century or two
centuries later, he compiled and edited an encyclopedia in Hebrew, that
"knowledge be increased among his coreligionists." His acquaintance with
learned works in several ancient and modern languages of which he was
master, enabled him to write his magnum opus, _Ma'aseh Tobiah_, with
tolerable ease. This work is divided into eight parts, devoted
respectively to theology, astronomy, pharmacy, hygiene, venereal
diseases, botany, cosmography, and chemistry. It is illustrated with
several plates, among them the picture of an astrolabe and one of the
human body treated as a house. From the numerous editions through which
it passed (Venice, 1707, 1715, 1728, 1769), we may conclude that it met
with marked success.[37]
* * * * *
To understand the _raison d'Etre_ of the Haskalah movement, it may not
be superfluous to cast a glance at the inner social and religious life
of the Slavonic Jews during pre-Haskalah times. The labors of the farmer
are crowned with success only when nature lends him a helping hand.
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